


Let's Just Stay

by clownerooni



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Brotherhood, Brotherly Bonding, Character Study, Friendship, Gen, Just a bunch of sweet boys having fun in the sun, Short & Sweet, nothing is wrong, outdated little thing, simple stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:49:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23703394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clownerooni/pseuds/clownerooni
Summary: Prompto provokes a simple race between the four of them.
Kudos: 12





	Let's Just Stay

The sand shifted beneath their feet, trying to suck them in as they pulled off down the beach side. 

All four of them started strong, with Gladio's determined strides, Prompto's bounds, Ignis' calculated steps, and Noctis' clumsy stomps. 

They had camped just a few miles back, and they could still smell the fire smoking hot in the air as the breeze carried it forward. 

Something had inspired them, Prompto off-handedly mentioning how he was 'totally the fastest out of all of them.'  
Naturally Gladio had stood up and declared his disagreement and insisted that maybe he should rethink that statement, and adamantly challenged him to a race.   
Of course adding at the end, 'to make things more interesting' that they should give it a go on the beach.

Noctis groaned the moment those words left his mouth. 

Days had gone by where Gladio shook him up in the early morning, dragging him out for a run in the sand.   
It was the best way to work out those legs, he says, it's good for the bum leg, he says.  
Well Noctis protested.

Ignis easily agreed with his cool, unbreakable demeanor, a show of confidence, and that was that.  
With the votes in, they were stuck with their feet in the sand. 

Prompto insisted on being barefoot against the better judgement of everyone else.   
Ignis was particularly persistent in the way he lectured him about glass and barnacles.   
But nothing could be helped. 

Ignis was the one to count them down and Prompto gave himself the luxury of a bit of a head start because he was too excited to wait one more moment.  
Gladio broke free from the group next, charging ahead and passing Prompto almost immediately. He had to make a jab.  
"You guys have hardly trained in these conditions." he teased, lightheartedly. 

Prompto leapt further and matched Gladio's speed with a little more resistance.  
"Yeah, so what, I gots raw power in these legs, baby!" He panted, and continued pushing himself harder, dragging past Gladio. 

The larger man glanced back at the other two, Ignis was keeping a steady pace not too far behind, and Noctis was lingering further than that, already huffing as he trudged on. 

Gladio grinned and flung himself against the breeze, focused entirely now on surpassing Prompto.   
He didn't really think he needed to worry about the two.   
The blondie had honestly gotten pretty far, to his surprise, but he could hear how raggedly he was breathing. 

This would be cake.

Gladio already planned out that he would save some of his energy and fall a little behind before just bursting ahead at the last minute to reach the pier. Fool-proof. He was proud of himself and even imagined the look on Prompto's face afterwards.

Ignis spouted encouragement at the Prince as he caught up to speed with him.  
"Knock it- off- trying- to concentrate." He gasped, stumbling and catching himself.   
Ignis laughed if you could strain to hear it, shaking his head as he stuck close by. 

Meanwhile Prompto was feeling the victory already, so close he could taste it.   
He was boisterously laughing out the tight knot in his chest. It curled around the tension of whether or not he was going to reach that dock first, it made streams of adrenaline race through his limbs.   
They tingled, and also burned from pushing through the terrain. 

The sun beating down on them wasn't making it any easier either, it was purely hot, with only the breeze relieving their warm, sticky skin. 

Prompto ripped a shout from his chest,  
"How's everyone doin'!?"   
Gladio grunted,   
"M' ready to kick your ass!" And lunged up to speed with the smaller man in just a few wide strides. Prompto yelped in surprise.

"All good back here." Ignis called, and his voice hardly sounded strained.  
Noctis only wheezed.   
It wasn't like he was out of shape, obviously, the sand was just difficult, he kept sinking in, his leg was choosing now of all times to lock up, and at this point his whole body was on fire. 

Then he tripped, his foot dragged, didn't lift it up high enough and he went down face first in the sand. 

He heard Ignis snort and then quickly hide it as he dashed off and left him behind. No use in worrying.  
Noctis lied there for a moment, huffed, and picked himself right up and dashed into a full on sprint. 

He was already so far behind, but he trucked on,   
his chest welling with frustration.

There was definitely a tantrum coming the moment he reached the dock and whoever won was going to be the target of his fury.   
He would bring the pain, he was the prince, no matter what he came out on top.   
Come on!

Up at front Prompto was trying to keep distance from Gladio but he was cockily grinning as he kept leaping in front of him, faking him out and pretending to try and shove him over.

Prompto was shouting and swatting at him, exasperated, declaring cheater.  
The pier was coming up fast and everyone seemed to hold their breath as they pushed themselves to their absolute limit, giving it their complete all in the final stretch.

Prompto sprang ahead just a few inches past Gladio, ripping through the big guy's plan, his heart leaping with excitement.   
He would be first, he would have won a race against Gladio.   
He could practically taste the victory.

Until Ignis whizzed right past both of them and pointedly slapped one of the wooden pillars adorning the pier.   
He slumped against it while Prompto hit it and promptly collapsed, and then Gladio, fuming, chose to stand in place and jog out the burning feeling in his legs. He refused to touch the pier out of spite.

"What was that! You weren't even around! That's bogus!" Prompto flopped onto his back against the wood and looked up into the very bright blue sky.   
Chest heaving as his hands went to run through the sweat in his hair.

Gladio huffed and looked tiredly at Ignis. He knew what the silent man was capable of and yet he let it go by his radar.   
"Prompto distracted me." He grunted and Ignis scoffed.  
"You can't just give me the win for once, can you?" He shrugged an eyebrow at the other man and he stubbornly looked away.

Finally Noctis smacked the pole.   
He fell dramatically to his knees, resting his forehead against the warm wood surface of the dock as he actually wheezed and coughed on his exhaustion.   
"You guys are nuts." 

Prompto giggled and rolled over to his friend with a big grin.  
"We'll have to try it again sometime!" He jabbed at his side with an elbow and Noctis' eyes went wide.  
"Not now." He all but begged, and it made the two louder men laugh.   
Ignis just smiled fondly and strode over to him, offering a hand to be lifted up.

Noctis reluctantly took it and stood up on his wobbly legs.  
"Now I have to sleep for the next three days." 

Prompto got himself up and tugged on Noctis' arm a little.  
"Oh, no way- oh, oh! Hold up you guys." He reached into his little side pouch, pulling the camera from it and trying to be a little sneaky about it.   
Noctis groaned and already started opening his mouth to protest but Prompto stuck his finger out toward him.  
"Ah, ah, ah." 

He quickly grouped all of them together.   
Their hair stuck up with sweat, glistening skin in the hot sun, red on all their faces.  
And Prompto propped the camera up carefully on one of the poles, set it on a timer and ran back to gather with the gang and pose. 

The rest hardly posed, looking ragged and worn out with very slack expressions, but Prompto managed to look spry as ever with his big grin.

Not only did they run beachside, but all of them had pumped each other up to the point of not just physical exhaustion but mental as well.   
Or at least that was the excuse.

They all finally took a moment of silence to breathe and decompress after all that pressure.   
Everyone piled on the end of the dock, sat down with their feet hanging over the edge. 

Noctis' eyes were trained on the water, watching all the colorful fish swim by and itching to grasp a fishing pole in his hands.

Gladio looked into the treeline that stood opposite from them across the water, that, if you looked hard enough, you could see the litter of small houses mingled within. 

Prompto snapped pictures, of the water, of the beach, of each of his friends, then going through them with a soft look on his face.

And Ignis simply closed his eyes and leaned back, letting himself feel the soft sea breeze flutter through the air. It rustled his hair and he hummed at the feeling.  
It was comfortable, it was a nice change of pace.

Gladio broke the silence.  
"Let's just uh, stick around another night. That okay with you, Noct?"   
The prince sighed, fondly, and looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Sure."

**Author's Note:**

> Im trying to figure these little lads out


End file.
